Adventures of the Space Pizza Delivery Guy

Chapter 9: A Plan

The Salamander used its sharp claws and lunged directly at Chronna, but Ethan acted quickly and blocked the attack using a wooden plank he found nearby.

“That’s close!” Chronna blurted out while still being shocked as the Salamander’s nails were a couple of inches away from her face. 

Had it not been for Ethan, she would have already been dead.

Ethan was also surprised. Thankfully his reflexes were faster than his worries. He asked, “Are you okay?”

He was struggling too much, and the Salamander was trying to pin the two of them down to squash them with its force. 

Ethan was groaning in pain, he was already using all his strength, and he even used his flying shoes to help him lift it against the Salamander, but it was futile. The Salamander was so much stronger.

“Think, think!” Chronna muttered to herself anxiously, and just then, she found the steering wheel just across them. 

She glanced at Ethan and said hurriedly, “Cover me.”

“What?” Ethan asked. 

Instead of replying, Chronna immediately ran as fast as she could. 

The Salamander saw this and immediately used its tongue to whip Chronna, but Chronna’s reaction time was fast as she easily avoided each attack.

“Hold on tight!” Chronna shouted as she navigated the steering wheel and made a hard right turn causing the Salamander to fall down the edge and away from Ethan. 

Ethan immediately ran towards Captain Smith, who was about to slide down the ship. He grabbed his arms and pulled him back up.

Ethan shouted back, “You’re insane!”

“I know!” Chronna agreed loudly, her expression with utmost seriousness. 

But just as quickly, the Salamander climbed up the ship and continued to attack them. Ethan was blocking each attack while Captain Smith was attacking with each opening that Ethan set up.

But just as quickly as the two tore a limb or so, the Salamander grew it back easily. Aside from that, the asteroid belt was getting closer, and the pressure was getting more intense.

Chronna was still at the steering wheel. She shouted, “We need a plan. We need to kill the Salamander while steering the ship further from the asteroid belt to save our asses.”

Ethan glanced at his surroundings and he was calculating and thinking of every possible way out. His breath is getting stable, his heartbeat slowing down. 

He muttered to himself, “Think, Ethan, think!”

Ethan watched as Captain Smith attacked the Salamander. He knew that attacking it wasn’t enough since it grew its limbs quickly. Ethan looked around at the asteroid belt, which was fast approaching, and at the Salamander.

Just then, he smirked. 

A plan.

Ethan just came up with a plan.

He glanced at Chronna and asked, “Do you trust me?”

Chronna gulped hard. She was hesitant at first, but then she nodded. 

Ethan glanced at Captain Smith as well, and Captain Smith replied, “I sure as hell do! After all, I have to eat that pizza and pay you afterwards! There’s no way I’m dying before that!”

Ethan smirked and said, “I have a plan.” 

“Old man! Captain Smith!” Ethan then called out as both of them were side-by-side, trying their best to keep the Salamander at bay. He asked, “Choose one! Heads or tails?”

Captain Smith sliced off the Salamander’s head, with its blood gushed out and all over Captain Smith’s face, he replied with a smirk, “Head!”

“Okay! Whoever the coin lands on shall be the one to drive the ship!” Ethan informed, “Chronna! You’re tail, okay?”

“Wait, what? You’re leaving such an important task on some random coin toss?” Chronna protested through clenched teeth, “Captain Smith is the best option for this one!”

“No! I can’t let you two fight my battles!” Captain Smith also protested while glaring at him. 

Ethan chuckled before he continued, “This is why a coin toss is so much better! There are three of us, and we have to split our tasks. One should be driving the ship, and the other two would fight off the alien!”

“Well, what about you?” Chronna asked. 

“Me?” Ethan smirked as he anticipated the growing head of the Salamander. Ethan then took out its new eyes with some spear he found nearby and replied, “I’m obviously going to fight! I suck at driving anything!”

It was true. Ethan would always almost crash a vehicle, which explained why he would always find himself encountering timeline characters like Einstein. Ethan’s sense of direction and space was surprisingly lacking.

Ethan was obviously out of options because he knew that the minute he took charge of the ship, they’d be in far more trouble than they already were.

Ethan was about to toss the coin, but as he pulled one out of his pocket, the Salamander attacked him, it had already re-grew its eyes, and it was even better. He noticed that its movements were even faster and stronger each time that it would regenerate a body part. 

“This is getting troublesome,” Ethan remarked with a deep frown. He called out, “Captain Smith! Try not to physically hurt the Salamander!”

Captain Smith scoffed, thinking that Ethan was just joking around. He asked with sarcasm, “What? You get emotional and attached to this alien now?”

“No.” Ethan replied, “It’s improving. Each time we cut off a limb or so, it comes back stronger and immune to the same attacks that got it in the first place.”

“Adaptive abilities,” Captain Smith replied thoughtfully.  

“What’s that?” Chronna questioned. 

Captain Smith gulped hard as he explained, “Most alien species have adaptive abilities where in order to survive any environment, it learns to adapt, and it is continuously improving to be better than its predator, which in this case, is us.”

Then it struck them, which meant that they couldn’t use the same attack and defensive patterns they used before because it wouldn’t be as effective anymore. They both knew at that moment that their attacks were limited because performing a lot of attacks would only increase the Salamander’s already great abilities.

To the Salamander’s eyes, both Ethan and Captain Smith were training.

Ethan thought to himself about how the hell they would be able to defeat such a creature. The Salamander had adaptive abilities like irregulars, but unlike irregulars, the salamanders are also capable of insane regenerative abilities.

The Salamander was looking at them, and the two were walking backward. Captain Smith glanced at Ethan and asked worriedly, “Now what?”

Once again, a sense of hopelessness befell upon the three. Ethan could feel the immense pressure. He could hear his faint breaths and fast heartbeats. His vision was getting blurry as cold sweats fell down from his face.

Ethan was looking at the ground. He was clueless. He had no idea what he had to do. For a moment, everything seemed to slow down. Ethan reminisced about how his day started full of misfortunes.

First, he got the orders wrong, and he accidentally crashed his timeline vehicle where Einstein was solving his equation. Second, he got so high as a black cat passed him by. ‘Ah damn’ he thought, was that a sign that this would happen?

Third, he got himself into this mess.

Ethan glanced at his flying backpack, and he was used to this. He was used to running away from his problems. Ethan murmured to himself, ‘Can’t I just run away this time too?’